Toe-to-Toe: Warhammer Color & Dye System

One of the coolest things concerning the Warhammer Online item system is it's color & dying part. The WAR dye system will let you dye most (but not all) items in a color you want. Nearly every merchant has the ability to dye items. You can choose in the dyeing UI if you just want to dye a single item (just choose that one) or use the checkbox to apply the same color scheme to all your armor. All armor has a primary and a secondary color. You can left and right click on the color dots to dye primary or secondary colors. There are 14 colors offered by default from the vendors. There are rumours about other colors being available at higher renown ranks, but so far I've heard of none being confirmed.

Beside merchant bought dyes there are more possibilities to get different looking colors... Some quests offer dye containers as a reward. Don't be afraid to try them out, as you'll always get a confirmation window after the preview if you really want to use that color. So it's safe to check them out on your armor. Many color names found inside WAR suggest that Mythic uses the Games Workshop Citadel Colours from the original game, but some people on the forums complain the colors are not 100% original in tone, maybe due to some armor layer clipping. The large color table suggests that later on Mythic will possibly add more colors as different rewards. There are also some rare colors (like Enchanted Blue Dye (looks like a smurf) or Blood Red Dye) you can get as drops. I found them in Mount Gunbad and RvR so far, so i guess they're just random world drops of dye.

The most interesting & rare colors many thought were supposed to come from crafting. Well, let me tell you I'm a 200 Apothecary and 200 Cultivator and it's not really true until now. Of course I'm not rank 40 yet and maybe there are some mysterious ingredients that eluded me yet, but so far the possibilities to craft dyes are very limited. I don't want to turn this into a crafting explanation, but there is only so much with the available ingredients and containers for dye you can do and try out. If you managed to create dyes other then the obvious ones, share with us. The worst thing is that the crafted colors look nearly the same then merchant ones or drops. How does crafting dyes work? Well, Cultivators can get special moments (better then a critical success) and gain pigment extracts from growing plants. An Apothecary can take Mortar and Pestle (vendor item) and fixer plus a pigment extract to craft dye. Basic fixer lvl 1 can be bought from a vendor but Cultivators can get higher level fixers from special moments as well. The highest fixer i got until today is lvl 125, don't know anyoneone who got a better one. Colored pigments i found so far include yellow (Golden Yellow Dye), brown (Scorched Brown Dye), green (Goblin Green Dye), blue (Seaguard Blue Dye) and red (Red Gore Dye).

Some people claim they crafted violet or black dye, but i did not see any proof yet. Screenshots & explanations or it did not happen. The dye system is one of the greatest item features and I'm positive we'll see more dyes soon as special rewards.

Tip of the Day: If you try to brew potions with Apothecary and the potion fails, use water as a stabilizer. You can use up to three water for the same potion to stabilize it. After the vendor bought water is not good enough anymore you'll need better water or zoic from other scavengers & butchers.

Toe-to-Toe: Warhammer Addons

Maybe you're one of those players that don't have any addons installed yet? Well, then we should get you started as addons can really improve your gaming experience. I know some are reluctant to install them, but i always used a ton of addons and as long as you keep track of new versions, it's not a problem at all. Should you not have seen them yet, i keep a list of the addons i have installed in the nav-bar to the right. All of them have screenshots posted at the download location, so i won't bother to post screenshots of those addons but rather entertain you with some random panoramic screenshots.

Before i talk about the addons i use, let me talk you through the process of installing them. If not there already, you need to create a path like C:\Games\Warhammer Online\Interface\Addons\ (depending on where you installed WAR) don't mix it up with the interface folder in your user area, that's not the right one. A really good addon FAQ is at WHA, go read it first. I grab all my addons from curse, so far there are no other addon websites worth mentioning. Warhammer Online stores the settings for addons on an addon version basis, which means you do not have to update them after every patch. Of course when Mythic changed something you'll have to grab the latest version to fix stuff. In general i would advice to check for updates to the addons you use regularly to get bug fixes and improvements. Should you install a new addon version, all settings are gone and you have to set it up again. Usually no big deal, but keep it in mind for addons that work in the background. You can modify lastLoadedVersion (check the FAQ at WHA how to do so) to keep the setting, but only use it if you know it will work. By default Warhammer stores addon settings global for all your chars, if you need to operate with different setups, you can change that by editing ..\user\UserSettings.xml -> save_settings_per_character="false" needs to be changed to true.

What can those addons do for me? Well, I'm glad you asked... Some addons are real timesavers. The one addon I'd say saved me a ton of time is zMailMod, it's a mass mailing addon that will show you the amount of time until all the mails/attachments are send and sends mail after mail by itself. Finally you should be arsed to send those crafting things you vendored before to some guildie. Go and install that one now! The QuickMailTool does help you to empty your mailbox and delete mails, while not working perfect yet (eg. does not take money) it's useful if you watch closely what you're doing. Another good addon is Last Listed which is the only auction house addon i have installed. It will populate the search automaticly depending on the item you want to sell and also remember the price you put it up for. Especially if you're a crafter and try (lets not talk about how the last patch destroyed apothecary income from cores) to sell things this is useful, but also for just selling stuff you found.

The next addons are to customize your UI... Vertigo will enable you to arrange and size your hotbars as you like. You want a three slot mini bar somewhere? no problem. ActionBarColor will color your action buttons red if target is out of range. InfluenceText adds numbers to your influence bar to show how far away from the rewards you are. Does help to keep you sane while grinding influence and you can also click it to go directly to the warstory entry to check the rewards again, dangling in front of your nose.

Talking about items there are two addons i use, first - as there is no item linking yet - the Mostly Harmless Item Linker, generates text with item info so you don't have to type stats if you intend to give away some item to guildies. If you keep different suits of gear ClosetGoblin is for you. This addon will let you manage equipment sets with ease and got a nice UI to do so.

Three more useful addons i use: PlantMe if you're a Cultivator, use this one! Improves the cultivating profession a ton. The addon will provide you with a small window you can use to cultivate seeds & spores and use an included dropdown menu to quickly use additives for the process. You just ckick the tiny squares for each seed slot. Then i also use Chat Alert! to be notified about certain events and chat channels, especially if someone whispers me. The default settings are annoying, but you can turn off all the channels you don't want to hear a sound for messages. Join Selected Scenarios is the new version from Scenario Join All Button, as Mythic implemented a join all button now. But this addon is exactly how Mythic should have implemented it: A small list with available scenarios to check those you want to queue for, sometimes I'm just not up for Tor Anroc but want to queue for all the others.

On a sidenote: I hear good things about Squared (like grid) to use if you're a healer. I don't use it but check it out should you need to heal people.

In addition there are a bunch of tiny helpers that will just change the default view of some window, etc. like GuildDefaultTab (change the default view & sorting from guild window) and NearestOpenGroup (sort open groups after distance, from nearest to farthest). I also want to mention IdentityTheft, a small helper to create "clean" screenshots - it will hide all player/NPC names etc. Great little addon to create good looking screenshots while in combat.

As you can see i did not mention all, but think this should at least give you an idea about what kind of useful addons are out there. Depending on your class there are many more and I'm also watching some very promising beta version, I'm sure I'll add soon to my collection of useful stuff. Don't forget to install LibSlash as its a library for registering slash commands most addons use. If you want to delete an addon, just delete the folder inside the addon path and its gone.

Tip of the Day: You can update or change addons while running WAR, you just have to do a /reloadui afterwards to update your UI.

Toe-to-Toe: Claiming a Keep

Yesterday night Thirst, with the help of Rigor Mortis & Da Meanest an' Greenest, took back the T4 keep "Ironskin Skar" in Black Crag from the filthy hands of Order. I did not participate personally, but will use this as an example how to claim a keep and what it costs. Before you can claim a keep, of course first you have to conquer it. So gather a strong warband and find one occupied by the forces of Order, preferably already claimed by an Order guild. ;)



You can check which realm owns a keep by looking at the mouse-over window. It will also show if a guild, in this example Thirst, has claimed that keep. So after you conquered the keep and slaughtered all the NPCs (including the Keep Lord of course) in there, you can claim the "empty" keep. If you just leave it, NPCs from your realm will repopulate the keep by themselves. If you want to claim the keep (Note: Your guild needs rank 14 to be able to claim) for your guild, after the fight you'll have to head to the top of the structure. IF you are a standard bearer for your guild, you'll be able to interact with one of the banner poles on top and you can place your banner there, claiming the keep.

It's important to note: The claiming standard bearer won't be able to carry a standard as long as the guild keeps that keep, because he "uses" his to claim it. Once your guild claimed the keep (your guild can only have one keep claimed at a time), the banners will transform into your guild heraldry, showing colors, patterns and emblem depending on your guild rank. In addition the Keep Lord will be hired by your guild and will show the guild tag as well.

But of course such service does not come for free. If you intend to claim keeps, you better fill up your war chest in advance with gold. The costs for keep maintenance are:
T3 Keep Maintenance =  6 gold/hour (144g per day)
T4 Keep Maintenance = 10 gold/hour (240g per day)

Maybe a good idea to talk about guild tithes & taxes or how guild members donate money in advance. We did not really plan for the keep claiming and had to realize our funds inside the guild vault were not enough to hold it for long. Next time then... ;)

So you wonder what the benefits are for paying maintenance and defending a claimed keep? Well, should someone attack "your" keep you'll get a warning in chat - so better make your way over quick when that happens. The benfits of a claimed keep include, that your guild banner tactics (the ones "equipped" in the banner used to claim) will be applied to the specified RvR area for ALL realm members to benefit from. In addition your guild will earn experience over time while holding the Keep. If a Keep (that is claimed by a guild) is captured, then the Standard associated with the Keep is considered captured.

Toe-to-Toe: Guild Taxes & Guild Tithes

As we level higher in WAR it will become more important to fill up our guild war chest, i thought maybe it's a good time to take a quick stab at the guild taxes & guild tithes features.


When the guild reaches rank 3, the option for tax & tithe opens up. Guild taxes are pretty self-explanatory: The guild leader can determine a percentage of your earnings that will go to the guild vault. The tax rate will show in the rewards tab next to the tax option.

What exactly is the tithe then? The tithe option is a voluntary contribution from each player towards the guild vault. While the tax is imposed equally for all guild members, the percentage of the tithe rate can be selected by everyone differently. If you want to donate to your guild bank, just click the tithe option inside the guild reward window and a small pop-up will open, here you enter the percenetage of you earnings you want to give.


Both options, tax & tithe, will add up. So if your guild has a basic tax of 5% and you choose a 7% tithe rate, you'll donate 12% of your income to the guild. I think i read somewhere it's rounded down where it applies. I'm not 100% sure, but i also recall the deducted money is only taken away from looting corpses and not doing quests, vendor sales or income from the auction house.

Toe-to-Toe: Warhammer Auction House

Looking at the search hits, it seems like there are many people still struggling to figure out the warhammer auction house and how to best utilize it. I'll try to give you a quick rundown...
The most important thing to notice: When you hit the search button on the auction house (AH), your chat window will give you a number of results. If it states search results 500, some auctions have been cut off. The AH will only show a max. of 500 results at any time to you. Should you hit this magical number, its adviced to refine your search more to see all fitting auctions. Some features on the AH are still a bit bugged, like search for career related stuff, you'll always get some crap you can't use as its for someone else. You can sort results by clicking on the column top like name, rank, time left, etc.

From my use of the AH, your best tools are these (until the rest gets fixed):
# Item Name - enter a search keyword in here and you'll only get results that include it, use this!
# Rank from x to y - if you search for gear to buy, limit the search by a rank frame that makes sense. With rank 20 you don't want to search for rank 1 gear.
# Categories - if you only search for armor, weapons or crafting stuff you should use this one.

What about selling stuff at the auction house you ask? Well, the warhammer auction house UI makes it really simple for you. It tells you the the vendor price (good stuff!) and suggests a price connected to the vendor one with a little markup. Careful tho, some crafting material does not sell for much at the vendor, so its worth more then the AH suggests. If you think that the drop you found is only mediocre, you might want to take the suggestion (pending on the drop up it a little). I'm still amazed how many players try to sell crap rank 17 items for a few gold, no one will buy that stuff. If you have no idea how much its worth, use your common sense (would you buy an item for 5g at rank 17?) and search for the item first to get an idea about how others priced it (which does still not mean it's worth 4.9g if you know what i mean). You might want to adjust the duration tho, the default 24h seem a bit short. As a last sidenote: Your mailbox has a seperate tab for mails from the auction house - how could you miss that? ;)

Toe-to-Toe: Open Party System

After playing a few days i have to say, I'm having a blast! There are so many things to see, fight and explore... its fun. One thing that bugs me is, that many many players have not figured out the whole open party system for group play in Warhammer Online yet. It's rather simple: When you create a group, it's an open party by default. If you don't want other people to join your group, go to party options and untick the "open party" option. Then it's not necessary to be rude and just kick people that try to join your party.

What does open party mean? Anyone can just join your party. How to find open parties? All of you might have noticed the pop-up you get when you enter a new zone, showing open parties. But you can search/enter them at all times. Use the small icon below you character pic to open a window that shows all available open groups & warbands in your area. You get some info about what they are doing and how far away they are.

Tips of the Day:
# All party members can invite someone to the group. If the person sending the invite is not the party leader you'll refer him to the leader and he'll get a pop-up to accept the person into the party. Really useful so you don't have to spell out strange names over and over.
# If you grind PQs not only for influence, but also for loot bags, once in a PQ area sort open parties after distance and join a group. Your overall contribution should be higher in a party.

Toe-to-Toe: Basic Guild Battle Standards

The open beta is closer to its end now, so its time to test all you can and want to know for launch. Yesterday i tried out guild battle standards and figured they are worth an in detail article.

Once your guild reaches guild rank 5 you'll gain the right to assign two standard bearers (everyone can buy a standard, but only those assigned can use it) and use a Warped Battle Standard, which can be bought at quartermasters in warcamps. The guild leader will always be able to function as a standard bearer as well. You equip the battle standard in the designated slot (player doll) and drag it into a hotbar slot. Once you use it, a castbar will show up (takes a while) and you'll bring out the standard. When you have it out, you'll gain a permanent speed buff:








This passive speed buff will work for all guildies in your party (and most likely warband as well, did not test that) as long as they're within range of you. If you should die while carrying the banner, it will be lost - that's nearly 1.9g wasted then. Especially in the begining that would be bad, so probably best to let tanks carry it and maybe have an off-tank to "guard" the standard bearer as well if in dangerous areas. The nifty part of the speed buff is it will let your party move 25% faster through areas, could be useful when you don't have a mount yet. But be aware that the standard bearer can't use any of his abilities/skills while carrying it. He can only run & jump and has access to two core abilities in the beginning:

The blessing will prevent you from most damage for a short period. And NO it does not prevent falling damage, i tried. ;)






Planting a standard on the ground is where the basic battle standard gets interesting. Once you plant it, it will stay one hour (then decay if not picked up again) or until and enemy player picks it up. I have no idea what exactly happens then, but afaik they will be able to use it as a trophy or gain "Banner Scraps" to buy unlocks. As long as the designated standard bearer is still alive, it's not possible for another guildie to pick the standard up instead. I don't know if he would be able to do so should you die. As he gets a message I'm still alive, maybe so.

The interesting part is what the tooltip does not tell you... once the basic banner is planted it will radiate a pulse that will award all party members in the area of effect with a 20% morale boost. Imagine for example you enter a dungeon and plant the banner as your spot to fight and pull the mobs over into the pulse. Also useful if you are defending a keep. Depending on the fight you could use your morale abilities a lot more.


So its rather obvious that the standards real use will come at later levels with additional tactics etc. equipped. But for a cautious group even the basic battle standard can provide uses, maybe in the beginning more in PvE then RvR, but still. Standards will also be needed later to allow the guild to claim keeps.

Tip of the Day:
#You do not need to stand still to bring out or store the battle standard, you can do it while running.